>> next, a conversation with film director rob reiner. after that, harold holzer on the resurgence of interest in the life of abraham lincoln. then another chance to see the dedication ceremony for the rosa parks statue in the rotunda. tomorrow on "washington journal" huffington post

reporter sabrina siddiqui will talk about the debates surrounding the automatic budget cuts and how it is affecting americans views toward government. alison young talks about her recent articles on security lapses in labs at the centers for disease control and prevention. they could pose bioterror threats. then, a discussion about the centennial of the 1913 women suffrage march in washington d.c. "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern, on c-span. >> i was fascinated by her feminist view. remember the ladies or you are going to be in trouble. she warned her husband. you can't will without -- rule without concluding what women want and what they have to contribute. this is the 1700s.

>> abigail adams, this monday night on c-span's new history series -- "first ladies, influence and image." she was outspoken about her views on slavery and women's rights. as one of the most dramatic writers of any first lady, she provides a unique window into colonial america and her life with john adams. join in the conversation on abigail adams, live, monday night on c-span, c-span radio, and c-span.org. >> four years ago, rob reiner spearheaded the legal battle against proposition eight would ban same-sex marriage in california. mr. reiner recently visited the commonwealth club of california to discuss his career in hollywood, marriage equality, climate change, immigration reform, gun rights, and violent movies,, as well as why he chose

not to run for governor against arnold schwarzenegger in 2006. this is an hour and 10 minutes. >> good afternoon and welcome to today's meeting of the commonwealth club of california. the place where you are in the know. you can find us on the internet at commonwealthclub.org. im a news anchor for abc 77 television in san francisco and a member of the commonwealth club board of directors and your moderator for today's program. it is now my letter to introduce our distinguished speaker today, rob reiner. [applause] >> thank you. >> from his starring role as

meathead on the popular 1970 -- >> you are the first person to call me that today. [laughter] >> it is still early. >> true. >> on that wonderful program " on the family" to his blockbuster films. when you look at at his list of films, it is remarkable. "the princess bride," "when harry met sally," "a few good men." as a director, he has worked with a-list actors, jack nicholson, tom cruise, kathy bates, as well as celebrated writers nora efron and aaron sorkin. he grew up in a political family were still right for a frequent topic around the kitchen table. as such, he has become not only a hollywood legend but a political activist as well. after november 4, 2008 when california passed a constitutional amendment banning marriage for gay and lesbian couples, he cofounded the

foundation for equal rights as a way to challenge proposition eight in the courts. in light of the recent decision to hear challenges to prop eight and dome of this year, we are delighted to have him with us today to discuss his views on the future of marriage equality and his incredible contributions to the entertainment industry. please, once again, a warm welcome to rob reiner. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. >> for small, what i would like to do is to talk about the entertainment industry and your background. how was your dad? >> thanks for asking. my dad is doing great. he is 90 years old. he will be 91 in a month and a half. he is bill sharp as a tack. he walks around the block every day. -- he is still sharp as a tack. >> does the work still? >> he

writes. he just wrote an autobiography called i remember me. it is just coming out now. she writes every day. he and mel brooks, every single night they get together. mel comes over to the house every night, they sit and have dinner and watch a movie. they say, every movie that has secure the perimeter in it, they will watch. they have fun with each other and they have each other, it is great. mel is 86 or 87. he is doing great too. >> how fortunate to have a lifelong friendship. >> they have known each other 60 years. i met him when i was four years old. and that mel brooks when i was four years old. we had a little place in fire island, off the coast of long island, and i doubt me and my sister who is two at the time,

we were going to go to bed and a man would be staying over. if we woke up in the morning and found a strange man, just know it he is a friend of ours. this man will be sleeping. at 5:00 a.m., this was the introduction to mel brooks. two kids standing, and he is sleeping in this window seat. i turned to my and go, is that the man? yeah, that is the man. that man is the man. she goes and takes his eyes like this. mel brooks, he was the man, and he is still the man. [applause] >> what a wonderful upbringing to be around such characters. did it dawn on you anytime that it was unusual? >> no.

my house was mel brooks, norman lear's, some of the funniest people in the world. as a kid growing up, you don't think of yourself as different. you are just in your house as a kid. it was not until i went to my friend stephen's house where i realized it wasn't so funny over there. not nearly as funny as my house. [laughter] >> did you know early on because of that environment, that you wanted to be in the entertainment? >> i didn't know i wanted to be in the entertainment business, but my dad tells the story, i do not remember it, but he tells -- i was eight years old, and i went up to him and said, dad, i want to change my name. he went -- he felt so bad. he thought, oh my god, this poor kid has to live up to carl reiner and the fame and the success. and he says, what he want to change her name to? and i said carl.

[laughter] i obviously wanted to be like him. i didn't think about show business, but i wanted to be like him. >> it was supportive. >> he always was. very proud of me when i did "all in the family" and all of that. when i was 19 years old -- i started when i was about 17 in summer theater and an improv theater group when i was 19. i directed a production of "no exit" and richard dreyfuss within it. my father came to the show and looked at me -- this was the first time that i knew -- he looked at me in the eye and said, that was good. no bs. i knew at that point, if he was saying, you are going to be ok. then went to visit him at his house and he said, i'm not worried about you. whatever you decide to do, you will be ok qui.

i felt so good about that. i did look up to him. he was like a god to me. he had done "the dick van dyke show" and all these shows. he was my idol. and he said that to me, it meant a lot. this is a great story. when i was a little boy, and this is true. my father was on television before we owned a television. it's true. we got a television when i was about four or five years old. so we could watch him. he was doing shows. we had a tiny black-and-white, screen that big, and i thought i used to say to me, at the end of the show they would have the good nights. the cast would come out to have the final bows. my father said, can't wait that you. i'm not allowed to. i don't like that. when they come out at the end,

i'm going to go like this with my tie, and that is me telling you that i love you and it is time to go to sleep. though every saturn i -- saturday night, he would go like this with his tie. he was a great guy around the house. he was a regular dad. oddly enough, we had a real normal life in a way. the show was on 13 weeks -- 39 weeks a year live. then they were off 13 weeks. that was 13 weeks during the summer, we spent the summers together. so, i probably had more time with him than a lot of parents. most people don't get 13 weeks in a row. when he was working, i remember one time going down to "the show of shows" and the writers room -- neil simon and willie allen and mel brooks -- woody allen's

and mel brooks, some of the most brilliant, and my dad and everybody, i remember being five or six and waiting for him. i only remember screaming and crazy screaming at each other. they were fighting for their jokes or whatever. i said, that is, the? it sounds like they are -- that is comedy? it sounds like they are killing each other. [laughter] the second half of the 20th century, you can trace back to anything you ever laughed at, really came out of that room. all of woody allen's work, neil simon's work. larry gelbart who wrote "mash" and "tootsie." my dad, mel brooks. everything, basically the second half of the 20th century, comedy was coming out -- incredible

writers. >> when you put it like that, it is remarkable, it was a magic time with a unique regard people creating this. >> yes. they called the golden age of television because it was. it was a brand-new medium and you had to have some money to own a television set. the fair was more highbrow. it was an extension of theater. reviews and satire and very upscale titles theater -- type of theater on television. then it became a mass media and you saw all kinds of dumbing down of things. i contest that right now we are in our second golden age of television. because of the cable tv, and you are looking at "mad men" and "breaking bad" and "homeland",

it is almost like the second golden age of television right now. >> i tell people, yes, there is a lot of junk, but there is also more quality on television than there has probably ever been. >> i think there is. when you look at amc and hbo and netflix, all of these deferred ways of accessing these niche type shows, they are really smart shows. nothing that would have been put on the networks -- we were lucky in that we got all in the family on which was a fairly elevated type of show at the time it was on. when we came on the air, you had "the beverly hillbillies," all of the rural type shows. all of a sudden, we had this urban comedy that dealt with issues that came on. that was a rare thing at that time. now you see all kinds of really good television on. >> no question.

let's talk about "on the family " for a moment. . do you find people then or even .ow -- it was progressive are do people understand it was not celebrating bigotry? >> shone the light on the bigot. we did not just go outside the box or go to the edge of the envelope, we destroyed the envelope, we broke the box. everything. cbs had a disclaimer on before we came on which essentially said, we don't have anything to do with this show. you want to watch it, it's up to you. [laughter] we don't know what the heck this is. despite that, we were able to succeed. i think in large part, aside from the fact it was funny, they were real people that

people could identify. they saw themselves in archie or mike. we presented two points of view. norman lear talked about is favorite clay was by george bernard shaw. who was a liberal. if you didn't know he was a liberal and went to see the play, both the hawk and dove point of view are presented with eloquence and intelligence, and it was up to the audience to make up their minds. let's throw this out there and get a dialogue started. at the time, there were no vcrs, no dvr, no tivo, so it didn't promote a dialogue. if you wanted to watch the show, you had to watch it when it was on. that meant that you were having a shared experience with everybody else who was watching it at that time. i made this point before. at the time, we were a country of about 200 million people.

of the 200 million people, anywhere between 30 and 45 million people at one time were watching that show. now we are in a country of over 300 million, and if you have a show that does 50 million viewers, that is a major hit. and you are not watching it at the same time as everybody else . but on your dvr, but saturday night. if you watch the show print them and, monday people were talking about whatever you talked about. x it is hard to cut through the noise now as a programmer. >> it really is. there is so much out there. i feel, with the internet and 24-hour a day cable news service, the potential of being less informed than more informed. when judy became -- tv became a

profit center, it changed everything. it was a big deal, when walter cronkite was on cbs and the broadcast went from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, that was a big deal. a half-hour? that meant that cbs was throwing away a half-hour of revenue. news outlets were a lost leader. you did not make money on news. all they did was report the news. no commentary. you can get your op-ed from newspapers. then "60 minutes" came along. a brilliant show. they started making money. all of a sudden, they realized we can make money off the news. then you had big corporations taking over the tv and news outlets. adult became about profit center and bottom line.

i think it has made us less informed. i really believe that. it is hard to find real, accurate reporting. how many people read "new york times." >> this sounds like one of the talks i give. let's move now to -- i want to back up and ask you one question. referred to your character, meathead, does that bother you when people referred yet t atco >> it does not bother me. i always found it odd -- i made the joke, first person to call me meathead today. i get called that virtually every day. even now, and i don't even look anything like and looked like. my kid watch the show and said, it sounds like you, but it does not look like you.

i get called that all the time. it would strike me funny that the guy who was espousing my point of view, whether you agreed with him or not, was probably more schools and intelligent and archie, was in called the meathead. look at the source of where that came from. that was just accepted. i am a meathead. that ignorant person called me that. i become that. norman lear's father used to call them that. that is where he got that. you're dead from the neck up or he is a nice father for you. >> people calling you that now, it is a term of endearment. >> yes. they recognize it. iconic. >> you acted in the early days. you still lacked some. but i just acted in a movie. a little part in a martin scorsese movie, "the wolf of

wall street." leonardo dicaprio -- make the joke, i played his father. what is more unbelievable, that leonardo dicaprio was a jew or that i am his father? [laughter] >> is that out yet? >> no, we just finished shooting. under the year. >> do you like acting still not a you are a director? >> i love to act. it is fun and i don't have a. directing is a lot of responsibility. i enjoy directing more. acting is fun. i remember years ago, ron howard was making a movie called "ed tv was quote and said there is a part if you want to act. i said, ok. let me send you the script and see if you want to do it. i said, if it stinks it is not my fault. i want to do it. i look at it that way. i will do whatever they wanted

to do. i am not responsible. i did a woody allen film years ago called "bullets over broadway" and i don't say anything. to be director -- i know, i don't want actors giving me grief. i have too many problems. just do your job. i show up there and look around, it is an outdoor scene with john cusack and alan arkin at night. i look out and said, gee, if i don't -- there must be some. i'm not aware of. it is too dark. it will never show up. i will not they anything because it is woody allen. redo the scene, they calmly the next day at the hotel, we watched the dailies, it is a radio show. it is totally black. i should have spoken up then. [laughter] >> you are listening to the commonwealth club of california radio program. we are talking to hollywood legend robert reiner.

i am dent -- laid -- dan ashley, your moderator today. you have some many remarkable successes in several different genres. >> i try to find -- "spinal tap " and "the princess bride" were satires. the princess bride was my favorite book as a kid. normally i will look -- where is my way into the story? is there a character i can identify with that i can tell the story through? like in "stand by me" or "a few good men." "when harry met sally" was born out of my ability to make a go of it with women when i was going through a divorce. i had been single for 10 years. it was totally autobiographical. i was making a mess of it. how you get with a woman,

middlesex room the friendship? i said, this will be a good movie. -- will sex ruin the friendship? >> is it a joy to be a director or is it stressful? >> it is both. i love doing it. as a director, i am not great at anything. you have to be good at a lot of little things. the writers are better writers, the actors can act better, the music guy can make music better. but if you have a little knowledge in a lot of areas, you can do it. i have one of those kind of brains. a little musical ability, a little artistic thing, i contacted little, i can write a little and it all kind of comes together. so i can use all of the parts and don't have to be good at anything. >> one thing i will do, i will

ask my colleagues, notnessly reporting colleagues but people i work with in the building, i'm going to see rob reiner tomorrow, anything would you like to ask? i asked our floor director, who's been there a number of years and worked a lot of movies he said ask him this, he never worked on a movie you had done. he has a reputation being tough on the crew. are you a demanding boss? >> boy, that's a weird one. i'm the easiest guys -- crews, they want to take me home because i don't work more than nine or ten hours any day. they say wow, we don't get overtime but i get to be with my family so they always like it. it's weird to hear. i have never heard that one. i have been tough on some people but not the crew. never the crew. >> here's the question from the audyernings rob -- audience, rob. interesting. if you could have played a leading role in any movies you directed, which would it have been and why? >> i think it probably would have been "when mary met sally."

-- harry met sally." my mother in the deli, the woman who says, i'll have what she's having, that's my mother there. >> oh, boy. >> great story because we have this scene and meg rye yazz was a little nervous about doing that because she had to fake orgasm in front of the crew and extras ever everybody. did it the first cull of times and it wasn't so good and she was kind of weak and half hearted. we did it again, again. she couldn't do it. meg, let me show you what i want. and i sat down at the table opposite billy i'm going yes, yes! i'm doing it, acting out the whole thing. billy said it was like being on a date with sebastian cabot or somebody. but i realized -- i realized that i'm having an orgasm in front of my mother, you know. [laughter] and i said oh, my god. but it worked out fine. i probably would have done that one. >> are you still recovering from that experience? >> i am. a few extra years of therapy

have made it work out ok. >> well, let's transition a little bit here, rob and i want to go back to "all in the family" to make this transition. that program, as we talked about, very progressive. very political. were you a political guy before that show? i know you grew up in a political household. or did that help inform your activism later in life? >> you know, it's interesting, i have been asked that question. what people don't understand is yes, i grew up in a political household. both my mother and father were active. my father marched in the moratorium here in san francisco during the vietnam war. my mother was part of a group called another mother for peace. she helped design the poster war is unhealthy for children and other living things. so those issues were always talked about in my house. so that was something i grew up in. now doing "all in the family," what got me interested in the active part of it.

i was always interested in politics and what was going on, but what got me interested to be active was essentially watching norman lear and how he functioned. it was separate and apart from "all in the family." he took his fame, celebrity, success, what you have, and started an organization called people for the american way, which was a way of pushing back against the religious right because they at the time the religious right was trying to own patriotism. not part of the religious right and not a patriot or liberal, if you were a liberal, you weren't a patriot. he said i fought in the second war. i'm a patriot. i should have that represented for me. so he started people for the american way. i saw there was a way in which you could use your celebrity, fame, success or whatever and put it to some good. that's really the experience. it was my parents introducing me to the area and seeing how you could actively do something with

your success. so that's got -- those are the things that pushed me forward. >> is your father politically aligned with you or do you find yourself -- >> we're very politically aligned. i would say i'm probably conservative then my father. nargee is probably -- my father is probably more of a liberal. what i have discovered is that from activism and having a position on something to trying to get something done on an area, you cannot hold on because -- to -- strict positions bah find the perfect is the enemy of the good. you can't move anything forward. >> compromise. >> you have to find ways. so you try to hold on to your principles, try to hold on to your beliefs but at the same time i have been informed by the process of having to get things done. so i probably am more conservative then my dad.

>> you're in a business that sells tickets to the public of all stripes. is it risky to be political when you're in that business? >> yes, yes. it's risky. it's not risky in terms of the hollywood community because generally speaking, the hollywood community is liberal more so then conservative. when you take political positions, when you take views and put yourself out there, and especially in this day in age, in this country, you're upsetting half the country, by nature of what you stand for, you're upsetting half the country. that half of the country may take it out on you in terms of going to a movie that you made or something like that. they may be able to see past your politics and enjoy a film that may not have politics but it certainly we've seen that happen to a lot of artists. dixie chicks or a lot of people. it does hurt. it does hurt. >> is that something the studios

wish didn't occur. they wish you guys would stay out of it or not so much? >> no, no. studios, they make all different types of pictures. basically they make what they call franchise movies. movies are that action pickses, x-men, you know, "hunger games," those kinds of things. don't films don't have too much politics in it. a little bit. and they also, there is room for "hurt locker." you know, you don't get as broad an audience but there's room for "hurt locker" and "zero dark thirty" and look at "argo." it's doing very well. there are room for those kinds of pictures. >> let's talk about some of the causes that you care about, probably at the top of the list, proposition 8, ban on gay marriage. >> right now, yes. >> how did you get involved in that? give us your thoughts on where, before the supreme court or will be, and where that issue is going and why you got involved.

>> first of all, you know, as i said civil rights was discussed at my table as a kid growing up. people of my generation say remember when you were when kennedy was assassinated? we all do remember. i remember when i was when edgar -- medgar everybodiers was assassinated. the first major rights civil rights leader that was assassinated in 1963. so the idea of civil rights and being equal was something always talked about in my household. flash forward, i'm making a movie "the american president," and young man named chad griffin, 19 years old at the time, was working for dee dee myers, the head of communication for president clinton at the time and he was assigned to me to help me research the film.

i went to the white house. he took me around and i became friends with him. he wound up running my foundation. chad, oddly enough i make this joke, i knew chad was gay before he knew it. he came from arkansas. very, you know, conservative state and he suppressed all of those feelings for a very long time. at one point he came to me and it was like, i feel like a father to him. he's like 19, much older and i'm very close to this guy. now he's the head of the human rights campaign. he's a big deal now. i said, i'm so proud every time i see him on television. oh, there's my son, you know. but i asked him to run my organization and after a while he came to me and he said rob, i have to tell you something. i'm gay. what else is new? we knew.

and as time goes by, one of the reasons we took on proposition 8, aside from the obvious reasons of marriage equality and we should all be treated equal under the law, and it's a bad -- it was a bad initiative and, you know, courts have already overturned it. we hope the supreme court will uphold those rulings, but it was partly an education process. we discover as we go along that, first of all, there's no one person in this audience or anywhere that doesn't have a gay person in their family or gay friend or gay person they work with in their workplace, nobody, nobody. so the normalize of things, being able to teach, being able to show people that everybody is equal, that nobody is different. if they can do -- if they're doing their job, it shouldn't be thought of as different. that was one of the reasons we took on prop 8 and one of the reasons we did the play "eight,"

a dramatization of what went on inside the courtroom here in san francisco at the distract trial. we put that on because we wanted to show people what actually went on in that courtroom and to normalize it. we find as we move along, the wind sat our back, it is like we're hitting critical mass. you see more and more states adopting it. now great britain, you are seeing more countrys, it will happen, it's supposed to happen. i have said this many, many times, we can't imagine that there was a time that women couldn't vote. we can't imagine a time when black people couldn't vote. we couldn't imagine there was a time when black people couldn't marry white people. there lr a time years from now and say gay marriage? what was that fuss all about? it will take time and we are moving in the right direction. but it is about a fundamental

right. we cannot look at our fellow citizens -- i couldn't look at chad griffin, somebody who i love, you are lesser then me, you deserve less then me. you are a second class citizen. you can't do that. you can't feel comfortable about yourself knowing there are millions of people in this country that are not considered equal under the law. tpwhr do you think that will -- are you optimistic about what the supreme court will do? >> i am optimistic. you obviously, you never know when a case is in front of the supreme court. but if they are going to rule and this is what they do based on the law, we have a trial here in san francisco with many weeks of evidence. we brought on 17 witnesses. they brought on 2. and one of their witnesses who is their expert against the idea of gay marriage has done a 180. his name is david blankenhorn and has now said it absolutely

should be something that should be done. if you look at it from a legal standpoint there is really nothing to argue. you can argue from a moral standpoint. can you say morally, i don't like the idea of gay marriage because your church teaches you a certain thing. that's fine. we're not asking anybody. we're not forcing any thank you very much to perform ceremonies. we're not asking anybody to go outside their religious beliefs. but marriage is not a religious right. it is a civil right that is provided by the government. a church does not have a right to marry someone except it is given the right by the government. the government issues marriage licenses. the government decides who gets married and who doesn't. so in 1967 there was a supreme court case loving versus virginia and blacks couldn't marry whites. they challenged that and the supreme court ruled that 9-0.

it was -- they ruled 14 times about the fundamental right to marriage. and from a legal standpoint, there's no argument. you can make a moral standpoint if you want but a legal standpoint, there is no argument. so we feel confident that, you know, how broadly the supreme court will rule, that we don't know. that we will have to see. the ninth circuit, which is the appellate court that heard the case, they -- they issued an opinion that can be taken a number of ways. maybe the supreme court just upholds the ninth circuit's opinion that proposition 8 was unconstitutional because it took away a right that was initially had by gays and lesbians. so they may just rule in terms of that. but we also argued there's a fundamental right to marriage. so if they rule on that basis,

then that marriage will be made fundamental right for everybody in the country. that doesn't mean immediately every state can can go to and get married. brown versus board of education 1954 said separate but not equal is not equal. and that every black person has a right to go to whatever school they want to, every public school they want to. but there were many prejudices against that in many of the southern states and it took a long time before schools could be integrated. so it may take a while even if we win the case in the broadest sense for all that to happen. but it will happen. it will happen. i mean this is not -- it is just a matter of time and hopefully, you know, the supreme court will be on the right side of history, and i think they will. >> when you produce a play like "eight" on a social issue and you have done that a number of times over your career, is that a different demand? it must be satisfying to tell a story about which you are so passionate politically but that's a different set of

demands and research that has to go into it, sort of historical accuracy that has to be part of it, i would think? you're not making a documentary necessarily? >> no. but lance black, writer of the play, which also won academy award for "milk," the story of harvey milk, he basically took the transcripts and made it a trial, basically, dramatized the transcripts. anything that is said by a witness in the play was taken exactly word for word from the transcripts of the trial. now, he added some personal stuff about the plaintiffs and that was brought in to dramatize. but if you wanted to know what went on inside that courtroom, because they didn't allow cameras in the courtroom, just look at that play continue will tell you exactly what happened during that trial. >> this -- the fight that you have been leading against prop

8, i imagine, has it come at any personal cost at all in terms of friendships -- >> not to me. not to me. you know something, i don't care. i mean, you know, if somebody wants to not like me because i want everybody to have equality, then they should go someplace else. it's not what america is about. that's not what america is about. >> one of the issue that's i care about and i'm curious and one of the members of the audience wants to ask why you got into anti-smoking campaign. some personal reason? >> the anti-smoking campaign was in conjunction with early childhood development. we tried to find a way to use some funds, which smoking is bad for children, bad for their health, bad for, in prenatal care and all of that. we also wanted to expand it to include all aspects of school readiness. health care, childcare,

preschool, parent education, all of the things that would be helpful for a child to get off on the right track. so it was a connected -- it was not just about anti-smoking. it was also about early childhood development. >> thank you. one of the other issues -- and i want to touch a few and we will go back and talk in detail. environmental causes you care about, climate change, are you working on a project involving climate change? >> climate change is the big-ticket item. i said many times, we've got basically two issues, two thing that's we think about and when you think about in a global way and i think -- i think they big -- it doesn't necessarily get me in too big of a straight but i do think big. there's the planet and then there's the people living on the planet. basically that's it. so what can we -- no, what can we do to make life better for the people living on the planet?

so, you know, my take was if we gave every child, every young child a good start in life, made sure they had good, nurturing parental experiences early on in life, if they had the right kind of health care, if they had the right early education, they would have an opportunity to live a happy, productive, fruitful life. and then there's the planet that we live on. the idea was with early childhood, if we give people what they need, we will produce nontoxic adults. they will not harm society. they will not act out against their neighbor. they won't rape. they won't steal. they won't, you know, kill. and then do we have a planet, toxic or nontoxic planet? so that is the other issue. i have always said, if you don't

have a healthy planet, nothing else means anything, you know, it doesn't matter whether, gee, i hope my social security check -- none of it matters. s. gun control. whatever it is, none matters if you don't have a sustainable planet. right now climate change, there's i thing seven people in this country that don't believe in the science. they talk a lot too for some reason. see, that's another thing about the media. they always talk about balance. some things are just not balanced. there's one side and then there's not another side. and then -- [applause] and i think -- i think on climate change, there is really only one side here. and so the science is in on this. jury of the scientists are in on this and that is we have a problem with climate change.

that's the other big ticket item. how to do something about that, it's very complicated. it's a very tough problem because you have entrenched interests that are screaming and yelling and with a lot of money. and if you have a lot of money, you can get the seven people to say what they want to say and the media will give them as much time as the, you know, 97%, whatever, of the others. so that's something we will work on and we're thinking about how to approach that and that's going to be big, comprehensive effort if we pull it off. >> it's also a global problem because you have emerging markets in countries that are industrializing and developing. >> right. but i believe there is an enormous economy, a green economy that is the next big boom. and that those technologies can be exported, those technologies can help bring along some of

these emerging countries, these third world countries. and the other thing is, we have no option. it's not like there's an option. there's a fear right now amongst people who are in we already maybe waited too long because there's a point in which things are irreversible. we may already be at that place. but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. it's like this gun control debate they have, does it mean because there's not one thing you can do that's going to eradicate all gun violence that shouldn't do anything? you have to try and do something. >> on the subject, rob, of gun control. this is from someone in the audience. you mentioned hollywood tends to be more of a liberal side. there is a lot of violence in films, certainly a lot of gun play in film. and i would imagine the hollywood community, many of them favor gun control and yet gun violence is sort of celebrated in the movies. is that inherent conflict and does that help that issue? >> it doesn't help the issue,ky tell you that. i don't believe there's a

conflict in terms of what needs to be done. i'm not a guy who makes those kinds of movies. so i'm not like protecting my franchise or anything. but i have read every study now done about the effects of violent movies and violent video games on young people in terms of their pro clevty -- proclivity to act out and there isn't a correlation. that doesn't mean to say young people who have mental illnesses and who have problems who also watch those video games might be tipped over by something like that, yes. but those people if they didn't have access to guns, they probably would go and stab somebody or hit somebody with a baseball bat or whatever. >> other issues. >> because of other issues. it's not like smrks this is the argument -- they have the same video games, same violent video games in japan, england, all the

same things and nobody's getting killed there because they don't have the guns. if we saw outbreaks of violence based on these violent movies that we -- and it's our second biggest export is these movies around the world, if we saw big outbreaks of violence because of that, then you say hey, we got a case here. >> so that is a specious argument? >> i think it is. i don't see the connection. i haven't been able to see the connection. you can feel like there's a connection. but feeling like there's a connection and actually a connection that you can actually see. you can see a person with a gun shooting somebody. so you know that person having the gun, killing the other person, that's causing the guy to die. we know that's happening. >> you talk, rob, with it seems equal passion about the social issues as you do making movies. is that fair to say? >> i would say i probably talk more passionately about them because movies are fun and people get entertained and i get

tremendous pleasure when people come up to me and say you have takened me over the years. that make mezz feel good -- makes me feel good. i feel good that i made people feel good. and then there's the other thing, which is more lasting and hopefully contributes to making a much healthier world. i do get more passionate about those things, yeah. but i like to make people laugh too. that helps. >> we need that. >> you do need it. >> balance. >> you have to be laughing while you're fighting some of the seven people. [laughter] >> you considered a run a few years ago for governor? >> yes, i did. >> would you ever consider that again? or why did you decide not to? >> first, i will tell why you i decided not to.

it takes a lot putting myself in the public arena like that and i have a meeting with my family because i was seriously considering it. my kids were young at the time. my youngest son was friends with patrick schwarzenegger, so he knew that the service -- secret service detail, you know, that would follow the security detail that would follow him around, he didn't like that idea and he sat around and there was my three kids, me and my wife and my son was crying, daddy, please, i don't want you to do it. my little daughter said daddy, i don't want you to. my wife didn't want it. my oldest son was in support of me. basically i polled 40% in my family. i didn't carry my family. i figured if i can't carry my family -- [laughter] that's about as good a consensus i could get. >> do you regret that decision at all?

>> i don't regret it at all. i discovered also, particularly in california and i think jerry brown has done an incredible job considering what he to deal with here -- [applause] -- you know this, state was left in an absolute mess by the previous administration. and to be able to get it on track with the governance structure we have here in california which forces to you get two-thirds majority, pass a budget, two-thirds majority to raise taxes. that's why he decided to put an initiative on the ballot rather then go through the legislature, which by the way, even though i benefited from the initiative process in passing proposition 10 for early childhood, i'm not in favor of the initiative process personally. i don't think it's a good way to govern. most people don't know what in the initiatives or implications or what they're voting for. voting based on 30-second ads and who has the most money to take out ads. but you then have to allow your

elected representatives the ability to govern and if your hamstringing them with two-thirds majority every time for anything significant, it makes it difficult. i think being governor of california is difficult because of the governance structure. that is not to say there are not great positions to get stuff done. if you look at the mayor of new york, for instance, great city charter in new york which allows you tremendous latitude to get things done. i think bloomberg's done a very good job. but in los angeles, charter is much weaker. so the mayor of los angeles doesn't have control over the educational system throughout the city of los angeles. it depends on the job. what i have discovered is, i can use whatever i had, whatever, you know, avenues i have better. i'm better serving in looking at openings and taking them. it's like i see an opening, guy

with a football. i say oh, there's some daylight. i will go there. that's what we did on the decision to go in the federal court case on prop 8. we saw that there was a possibility to get this done, actual possibility because i'm not unmindful of the politics of it. i'm not unmindful of the economics of it and how to -- plus the religious implications and all of that. but i can see the supreme court. i can see the way the country was moving and i just -- i felt along with chad and my wife and christina and lance black and bruce and we saw an opening there. and we took it. >> you feel that's how you can be -- >> look what can happen. if the supreme court rules on march 26th, if they rule in the way we hope they will, think about the impact of that. this is the last piece of the civil rights puzzle. this is the last leg. this is the last group of people

that is still considered second class citizen, unequal under the law. we finished that. that's a big thing to do. so you look for your opening and you take it. that's the way to do it. >> you're listening to the commonwealth public radio program talking with political legend and activist rob reiner about film, politics, future of marriage equality. >> you use that term legend. it makes me -- >> seem old? >> makes me seem old but it also puts pressure on me i have to be more intelligent then i really am. >> on the subject of intelligence, you are obviously extremely intelligent and very well informed on these issues and you use your celebrity for a great purpose. >> i try to. >> sometimes you talk about the electorate not necessarily always being informed as we might be. how do you feel about celebrities who lend their names to causes who may not be so well

informed? >> i don't think that's a good idea. i will not -- i don't think it's a good idea. it does happen because you have the confluence between washington and hollywood. they often said washington is hollywood for ugly people, you know. [laughter] >> great. >> i didn't say it. somebody said it. but the truth of the matter is, you know, washington can use hollywood a lot of times because a celebrity can bring attention to a particular issue. and if it's an issue they're trying to push, they can use celebrity. celebrities like to use washington because it gives them some more what they think gravitas or some seriousness or substantive thoughts about things. but what i discovered is that if you steep yourself in in an issue, if you understand the issue, ins and outs and can get

done in the weeds and out wanching -- wank one on a particular issue, can you move the ball forward. not only draw attention to something but move the ball forward. i look at somebody like michael j. fox, who really understands the science of parkinson's and how to move and stem cell research and how to move all of that stuff forward. then celebrity can be used good. if a celebrity just wants to be seen and wants to dance around then he makes a fool of himself and also hurts whatever issue he's trying to push. it's a double-edge sword and i always, you know, counsel celebrity it's you're going to get into something, really do your home work and really understand what it is you're trying to -- >> be serious about it. >> really understand it so when the reporters and when news people ask you and start drilling down, be able to second, third, fourth, fifth-tier questions and be

tible go -- be the smartest guy in the room. be as smart as anybody who's an expert. become an expert. >> you campaigned for president obama. re-elected and inaugurated. >> i did, yes. >> your -- some were disappointed in the first four years. many were pleased at some of the things he did. what do you hope he accomplishes in the next four years that he did not accomplish in the past. >> he did a lot. if you think about it, a lot of liberals were unhappy because he maybe didn't exhibit the kind of fire and passion that he did on the stump. but he's a cool customer. if you look at what he did, he did save an auto industry. he did kill bin laden. he did pass universal health care coverage for the first time since it was brought up in 1948. there was major, major accomplishments done in a very kind of quiet way. there are huge big-ticket items

still out there. we still have to get our fiscal house in order that.s0 will take some doing. he's certainly not going to be able to be do it during his term but put it on a path towards sustainability down the road. secondly, fighting on immigration reform right now. i believe that may even -- may get to be done. you have political interests on the right maybe not heartfelt interest but political interest to get that done. what we can do on gun safety, i'm not sure. seems like universal background checks should pass. and n.r.a. members are 80 some odd percent in favor of that. but the big-ticket items will come down to climate change, climate change is the big one. i hope something starts emerging on that. he did mention it in the state of the union. and then fiscal stuff. hopefully you can see something

happening on climate change. >> there's a movie coming out with matt damon -- this is from the audience called "promised land." >> it's out, isn't it? >> it is out. >> are movies, the audience, that call attention to issues, even though their dramatizations, of those do you think those serve to educate? are they helpful to issues or just entertainment and come and go? >> mostly they should be just entertainment but they do help. i mean, there have been many, certainly not going to change something overnight but they become part of the dialogue. people go to movies. people watch television. it becomes part of the discussion. there were major prison reforms made after the movie, i was a prisoner in a chain gang that came out, actual prison reforms because of that movie. the movie in and of itself will not change anything but certainly answer dialogue. i for one saw the movie.

i want to know more about fracking. i want to know, what's the truth about fracking? what actually is -- and e.p.a. is starting to study that now. i don't think anybody knows the real truth about it. we know the disaster that's happen but that happens with everything. so is there a way to do it that's environmentally sound? and we should. is there a way so safeguard it? yes. then it's not good. i'm curious about it now and largely because of that movie. >> chance to inform ourselves. >> starting point. open the dialogue. >> we touched a little bit on early childhood development but i want to ask you because i know that's something you're passionate about. your concerns about state of education in california and the country. so many statistics show we're so far behind many others. >> california, you know, you talk about california because california educates one out of every eight children in america.

and california before proposition 13 have the best education system in the country. we now have if not the worst, close to the worst in the country. if we're able to fix the education system in california, that will go a long way towards making a healthy education system in america. it's a very complicated thing because prop 13 is the third rail of california politics and money alone is not going to solve the problem. we have to see if reform and money come together. you can't have just reform. you need reform and resources. they both have to come together at the same time. but there are ways to do it. there are certainly models for what constitutes a good education system. i would submit you have quality

early childhood preschool education for every child so by the time they're -- that to me is my big fight because by third grade when you're 8 years old, you should be reading. you learn to read so can you read to learn. if you're not reading by the third grade, you're off the rails and the reason you see the 50% and more dropout rate at college is because the kids are not keeping up. kids that have access to high-quality preschool are kids that are not dropping out of school. so you have to start at the beginning with integrating a comprehensive early childhood education program from the git-go. then we're talking about the k through 12 system, which means reform and teacher training and being able to milwaukee sure there's a qualified teacher in every class and resources. both of those things need to

come together. there are a lot of money people around the state who are nervous about putting money into our system. because they know it will be money thrown down a rat hole. we have to go with reform at the same time and we need to see real reform. if we don't, there's no chance to even talk about reforming. they're not getting rid of prop 13, reforming prop 13. >> let's spend the last few minutes, rob, if it's ok with you lightening it up a little bit and talking about a few more -- >> you mean prop 13 isn't funny? i thought prop 13 was a riot! hey, let's kick the old lady out of the house! >> he makes it funny. >> couple questions from the audience i know people want to get to. let me start with this one. i don't know where you will take this, is humor inherently liberal? that's interesting. >> no, i don't think it's inherently liberal but you find more liberal people funnier because look at "south park."

those guys, you know, parker and stone are equal opportunity satirists. they skew the right and left. it doesn't have to be liberal. but i find generally speaking liberals are funnier because liberal means open 0, open minded. conservative means you conserve. you keep things as they are. liberal means you're opening up yourself to all the different possibilities. when you do that, there's more of an opportunity to find what's dopey about the world. >> someone in the audience and we talked about this backstage here. one of my favorite movies over the years has been one of yours, "princess bride," such a charming movie. >> thank you. >> you were very proud of that movie because it endures. >> it has. this year we -- last year the 25th anniversary of "princess bride." we had a celebration at the lincoln center and everyone came back together. what a thrill to know that a movie you made people are, you know, quote as you wish.

a guy was on a plane the other day, he had a montoya t-shirt -- >> kidding? people said i don't want that guy. they made him cover it up. it said you killed my father. prepare to die. they got nervous. >> my wife on a plane. >> i loved it. i love people come up to me and they say, my wedding ring, it says, "as you wish" inside of it. or kids who saw the movie 7, 8, 9, 10 now grown up violent little kids and interest deucing their kids to the movie. make me feel great. i have one great story about it years ago, nora ephron, who just passed away g. friend, wrote "when harry met sally." good restaurant, john gotti goes there every thursday night. i said oh, ok. we'll go. see. maybe it's not such a safe -- we will go there. we go there 8:00 sure enough john gotti walks into the restaurant with six wiseguys. sit down at a table. i look over there and i see him.

he kind of sees him. recognize. i don't want to say i recognize him too much. just stay over there. but we finished our meal and then i go outside and big limo and guy in front of the limo who looks like kwluke from the godfather looks at me and goes, you killed my father. prepare to die. i said oh, my god. oh, my god. so scared. he said, i loved that movie "the princess bride." >> little unnerving. >> i got through it. >> again from the audience, great moments on television in the golden age of television. was the sammy davis jr. kitsch of archie bunker spontaneous or did they plan that? >> no, we planned it. and it was the longest laugh we had on -- we had two longer laugh that's were about the same length. sammy davis jr. kiss, audience just never stopped.

it was another one where this was like -- i think it was like the seventh episode we ever did. my character was very anxious about having to take time exams and my character, my character became impotent. [laughter] you know, show business. and the whole thing was i couldn't -- gloria was all upset we couldn't make love. and so archie goes down to the bar and he runs into jefferson. and he says to jefferson, he said, you people are good with these things and these issues. he said, my son, he's -- how shall i said, he's stuck in neutral. and that cut one of the biggest laughs we ever had too. >> what is it like, "all in the family" to have been part of a tv family that was so eye con snick have you stayed in touch with people over the years? >> it was really great. like your family. we spent more time with our television family then our real

family. it was a great experience. i learned -- it was my master's degree. i always said when i was a kid, little kid, i went to see my dad work on the dick van dyke show. i was 13, 14, 15 and in the summertime i spend all day, every day watching him work with the actors, write the script and help the states and that was like me going to college and learning about how to do it. and "all in the family" to me was like masters. i got to see shows put together, tell stories in front of audiences. what they like and don't like. it was a great experience for me. i loved it. absolutely loved it. >> last question, rob. you made so many fantastic movies. been so involved politically and had such an effective life in so many respects. is there a project that you have always wanted to -- you often hear about actors or directors talk about a movie that took them ten years to make. do you have one of those in the back of your mind there's something you really want to do? >> i have had projects i wanted to make that i haven't been able

to make for one or another but not one that that's the one. there have been a couple, i always wanted to make the great baseball movie. i'm a huge baseball fan. as a kid growing up, i was new york giant fan and then san francisco giant fan because i loved willie mays and, you know, admired him so much. i loved baseball. so i always wanted to do something about that. i always wanted to do a musical. just a movie musical. not like "spinal tab" but a real musical with a store with characters and i tried that and i have not been able to do that. and then i have also wanted to do a movie about what happened during the '60's, what happened during the '60's and because i think it certainly informed my generation and all of the issue that's were going on. you know, vietnam war, civil rights movement, sexual rights movement, sexual revolution, drug culture and all